Do you do everything in your business yourself – or just the important things?

Today I got into a bit of an argument on Twitter (nothing new there).

It started with someone moaning about having to get up at ridiculous hours to attend to their business and me responding by saying that as they own the business they should employ someone to do this particular task.

It’s an important part of the business and led to a discussion about whether critical tasks should be delegated or not.

My view is that yes, they should. (I actually shouted, *YES* they should.)

Business owners are there to manage the business, to make decisions, to keep track of cashflow and consistently review how the business is working and make improvements where they’re needed. As soon as the business is big enough, *everything* else should be delegated.

If the business owner is the only one who can be trusted with a critical task it means that the business is too vulnerable and at risk and is probably unsalable.

Then we got into “what if the person the critical task is delegated to doesn’t do it properly?” Well, it is the owner’s job to check that it is being done properly and make sure people are properly trained or replaced. Delegation doesn’t mean abdication.

If your business is so small that you’re still doing everything yourself, and you’re happy with that that’s fine, but if you want it to grow you need to have a plan and that plan will very likely involve you stepping away from all of the stuff you do now and managing other people who will do it instead – and that’s a whole other skill set.

Basically, if your business is big enough to employ people and it still can’t run without you, there’s something wrong.

What’s the only time management tip you’ll ever need?

Why?

Being Early Saves Time AND Money

The bulk of the time we waste is spent trying to catch up on things that could have been done earlier, in less time.
By doing things before they need to be done we really SAVE time.

That old proverb “A stitch in time saves nine” is true.

Getting your car serviced before it breaks down, getting a new computer before it slows you down, getting a health check before you become ill, nurturing your relationships before they collapse, paying off bills before you get charged interest, getting more business before you run out of money. They all save both time and money.

Being early Pays Off

First come, first served is another true saying. Research shows that people respond more positively to the first person to respond to their request, whether this is to send in a quote, a tender for a job, information or recommendations. In other words, being early has a clear advantage.

Being Early Makes a Statement

If you want people to think you’re not in control of your life, unreliable, can’t be trusted, and don’t respect others, be consistently late for meetings, for deadlines, and for appointments. (See related post “Always” )

If you want people to think you’re committed, confident, and competent, show up early, and use the extra time to relax and prepare so you’ll be on top of your game.

Being in place when others arrive means you get to choose your chair, comb your hair, go to the loo, be the one to welcome others. It gives you control.

Try it …

If you’d like to talk about how to grow your business and make the most of your time, get in touch!

Being passionate about your business is a good thing – right?

I know lots of people who are passionate about their business. It’s a good thing and no more than I would expect from the people I mix with, given that most of them have chosen to do what they do.

However, I am constantly puzzled by the need that many folk have to “tell” me they are passionate about their business. Maybe you are one of them.

Telling me you’re passionate doesn’t do a thing for me.

Would you tell me you are funny in order to make me laugh or say that you’re sexy in the hope I might introduce you to a friend looking for a fling? Would you start a business conversation by telling me you’re honest?

No? I thought not. So why tell me you’re passionate about what you do?

Do you think by declaring your passion that I’m more likely to buy from you?

Here’s a newsflash. I’m not – and neither is anyone else.

Your customers don’t care how you feel about your business

Actually no-one cares how you feel about your business. Its just not relevant. You could be bored to death by it but if you supply what people want at the right price they’ll buy it.

I understand the whole thing about buying decisions being emotional ones but its the customer’s emotions that are in the equation not yours. How you or your product makes them feel is important but will your declaration for being passionate affect their emotions?

Jeremy says: ” … it is a mistake to believe that, if you tell me how you are feeling, that is a conversation at a feelings level, at the level of emotions. It’s not. It is a rational, “thinking” conversation.

A description of how passionate you are about what you do is not an emotional experience for the listener. It is a factual monologue, which will have the inevitable consequence of keeping them in their thinking mode, NOT getting them into their feelings – in other words it precisely does what you don’t want it to do!

The way out of this impasse is … to convey your passion by HOW you talk. How you are. “

In other words, its better to let people see and feel how passionate you are than to tell them!

Getting people to connect with you on an emotional level is the key to any transaction but simply telling them how you feel doesn’t work.

Don’t tell me – show me

If you want me to buy from you, stop telling me you are passionate and start demonstrating your conviction that you have the solution to my needs.

Businesses are driven by process not by emotion

There are millions of businesses that make money without anyone investing any emotion into them. In some ways, its better to be detached and make the right decisions logically that to be so emotionally involved that your judgement is clouded.

Passion is a great thing to have in your life but it doesn’t have to be invested in a business in order to make money. Of course, for some people, the ideal situation is to turn your passion into a way to make a living but there are those who prefer to keep them separate. The important thing is to recognise that what works for you and what works for the business may not always be the same thing.

If you’d like to talk about how to grow your business, with or without passion, get in touch!

People buy from people

B2B has ceased to be.

Death was inevitable when people began carrying their telecommunications and computing power with them. From that point “The Firm” lost its place as the organizing principle of business marketing.

If we really want to influence business decisions, from now on we have to reach and persuade the real seat of power, the individual. The customer is not a corporate entity, but an independently minded, highly connected, always-emotional human being. This individual is not only ascendant, but empowered and amplified.

Ninety percent of business decision making is emotional.

The new arena for business communications is now far bigger than the workplace. This is because work is no longer a place, but a state of mind. The connectedness of modern life sees no boundaries between work and home. It’s all part of the work-life continuum.

If we want to reach, persuade and engage business decision makers, we need to understand this “@ Work State of Mind” as completely and intimately as we can, so that we can ignite the emotions that cause decision-makers to shout, “Yes!”

If you’d like to talk about how to grow your business by being more personal, get in touch!